Morgan and Chris' Story

Morgan and Chris live in social housing in Ashfield.

Born with intellectual disabilities which have meant that they have been unable to learn to read or write and struggle with numbers, Morgan and Chris met while at school and have been housemates in a purpose-built community home for the past ten years.

Morgan and Chris both hold down long-term employment and contribute to the community. Chris works for Activ Property Care as a gardener where his favourite part of the job is mowing lawns and getting to wear high-visibility clothing. Morgan has worked in the canteen at Crown Casino (formerly Burswood) for the past 20 years where he enjoys being part of the catering team and helping to prepare the restaurant for customers. Both Morgan and Chris travel to and from work independently using public transport and like going to work each day where they are valued members of their teams.

Morgan and Chris also enjoy going ten pin bowling on weekends, spending time with their families and share cooking and cleaning duties at their home. They like to relax by watching television in the evenings and listening to music.

Morgan’s father Frank and Chris’ mum Lyn have been extremely grateful for the positive impact which social housing has made to their sons’ lives.

“It makes my wife June and I more settled knowing that if anything happened to us, Morgan would have a much higher chance of surviving on his own and he wouldn’t just be dumped somewhere like a nursing home. Morgan visits us regularly but he’s always happy to come back home and he and Chris seem to really enjoy living together.”

“One of the benefits of living in this home is that Morgan has been given a sense of independence."

Both of the boys have blossomed and come out of their shells more since they moved into this house and they seem really happy. Social housing has been the only real answer for them in terms of their future independence,” said Frank.

“I get great comfort knowing that Chris is living with someone he knows and they get along very well. I know Chris is very happy here. Having Chris living here means that I know he’ll be better able to look after himself in the longer term which makes me worry a bit less about him and what will happen in the future,” Lyn said.